SCRUTIN DE LISTE. 



807 



Pittsburg office, and on the withdrawal of 

 General Herrmon I. Lorabaert from the post 

 of general superintendent of the entire line, 

 Colonel Scott assumed the position, with head- 

 quarters at Altoona. In 1859, on the death 

 of Mr. William B. Foster, vice-president, Mr. 

 Scott was chosen for his successor, and was 

 soon known as one of the most active and en- 

 terprising railway managers in the country. 

 At the outbreak of the war in 1861 he was ap- 

 pointed colonel on the staff of Governor Cur- 

 tin, and distinguished himself by his energy in 

 equipping and forwarding the Pennsylvania 

 volunteers. His mastery of all the important 

 details of military transportation suggested his 

 appointment to the position of Assistant Sec- 

 retary of War under General Simon Cameron 

 and his successor, Edwin M. Stanton, which 

 he held until May, 1862, when his railway in- 

 terests demanded his resignation. He again 

 accepted, temporarily, a Government commis- 

 sion in 1863, when he went to Louisville and 

 superintended the transportation of the Elev- 

 enth and Twelfth Corps via Nashville to the 

 relief of General Rosecrans at Chattanooga. 

 At this time Colonel Scott was appointed 

 assistant quartermaster - general on General 

 Hooker's staff. Returning to his railway du- 

 ties, he was instrumental in securing control 

 of various Western lines necessary for opening 

 communication with the great cities of the 

 West, and, while others deprecated the policy 

 of aiding Western lines, he was always emphat- 

 ic in favoring it, and subsequent events have 

 amply proved the correctness of his idea which 

 was adopted by the company. In 1871, rival 

 routes to St. Louis and Chicago having been 

 brought under the same management, it was 

 deemed expedient for the simple and effective 

 working of the lines west of Pittsburg that a 

 separate company should be chartered, which 

 was accomplished by the State Legislature of 

 Pennsylvania, March 1, 1871, Colonel Scott be- 

 coming president of this company known as 

 the Pennsylvania Company, being the agency 

 by which the Western roads leased by the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad are operated. At the 

 same date he was made president of the " Pan- 

 Handle Route," otherwise known as the Pitts- 

 bnrg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway. He 

 was also president, of the Union Pacific Rail- 

 road from March, 1871, to March, 1872. 



SCRUTIN DE LISTE. The civil divisions 

 of Franco are known as departments, arron- 

 dissements, and communes. The canton is 

 merely a small judicial district. Before 1789 

 France was divided into a great number of 

 provinces, each having its separate legislation, 

 language, and customs. The limits and even 

 the names of the provinces were effaced by a 

 decree of the Constituent Assembly on Decem- 

 ber 22, 1789, and the new division into depart- 

 ments was adopted, and the number fixed at 

 eighty-three. Each department was subdivided 

 into districts ; each district into cantons; and 

 each canton into municipalities or communes. 



In 1795 the Constitution then in force sup- 

 pressed the district, which was soon after re- 

 established by the First Consul under the 

 name of communal arrondissement. After the 

 consulate the country was divided, as above 

 stated, into departments, arrondissements, and 

 communes. The number of the first division 

 has increased since 1799 from 83 to 89 at the 

 present time. The numbers of all the divisions 

 are as follows : departments, 89 ; arrondisse- 

 ments, 373 ; cantons, 2,941 ; communes, 37,548. 



The election of the deputies to the Lower 

 House of the French National Assembly is 

 made by the arrondissements. These may be 

 supposed to resemble the congressional districts 

 in the United States. Each has its defined 

 limits, its local as well as general interests, the 

 candidates are known to the voters, and the one 

 to be voted for is selected by the voters, or 

 more generally by a convention of delegates 

 whom the voters have selected to meet in con- 

 vention and authorized to designate the candi- 

 date. Thus at the election this candidate is 

 voted for, and, if chosen, he is a direct repre- 

 sentative of the people, and is bound to sustain 

 their views by the ties of a common interest 

 and a common welfare. If he is not faithful 

 and true in his representation to the demands 

 of his constituents, he is set aside at the end of 

 his term and another sent in his place. If he 

 is not prompt to defend the rights and protect 

 the liberties of his constituents, he is sure to 

 be set aside. The people in a republic consti- 

 tute the actual sovereign, and it is in accord- 

 ance with their will, calmly expressed, that all 

 contingencies are to be decided. By this sys- 

 tem, the sovereignty of the voice of the people 

 in the Congress, or the National Assembly, is 

 expected to be secured. 



Now, Gambetta proposed that the election 

 of the deputies by arrondissements should be 

 abolished, and that it should be made by the de- 

 partments. The senators of each department 

 were to be authorized by an act of the National 

 Assembly to designate a number of persons 

 who were to constitute a board for the nomi- 

 nation of the candidates for deputies from the 

 department. This list of candidates, thus pre- 

 pared, was to form the ticket of names for 

 which the voter might give his ballot, and was 

 called the serutin de lute. If he voted for any 

 other person, his vote was really thrown away. 



It will be seen that the candidates thus nom- 

 inated and elected were not representatives of 

 the people, but of the senators and of the 

 board to which they owed their official exist- 

 ence. The popular vote was simply a form, 

 which neither made nor unmade the deputy, 

 after he had received bis nomination. Thus 

 the actual sovereignty of the people would be 

 gone. The power would be transferred to 

 those who worked the machinery. They had 

 arrived at the possession of power ; they were 

 afraid that they might soon lose the treasure ; 

 they feared to trust the people, and they chose 

 the alternative, to sacrifice the rights and to 



