SIEVES 



5376 



SIGISMUND 



SIEYES, syayes' , EMMANUEL JOSEPH (1748- 

 1836), a French revolutionist, born at Frejus. 

 He was educated at the University of Paris, 

 and prepared himself for the priesthood. In 

 1775 he was appointed a canon in Brittany and 

 rose rapidly to the post of vicar-general. He 

 was in Paris in 1789 and at that time took a 

 most active part in furthering the French 

 Revolution. On June 16, as a member of the 

 States-General, he proposed that that body 

 form itself into an organization to be called 

 the National Assembly; this was done, and 

 Sieyes was chosen its president in 1790. In the 

 next year many violent leaders, among them 

 Danton, Robespierre and Saint-Just, went 

 to such extremes in their harsh methods of 

 government that his conscience would not per- 

 mit him to follow them, and he became almost 

 a silent member of the Assembly, simply re- 

 cording his vote in important matters. 



After the close of the Reign of .Terror, Sieyes 

 did important work in the department of for- 

 eign affairs, and in 1798 went as ambassador 

 to Berlin, where he inspired much confidence in 

 the. Prussian court. In 1799 he was elected a 

 member of the Directory of Paris, and greatly 

 aided the movement for peace by closing the 

 Jacobin Club (see JACOBINS). On November 9, 

 1799, he formed what was called a consulate, 

 of which he and Napoleon were members. No 

 man, however, could oppose the will of Bona- 

 parte, and after a few disagreements Sieyes 

 retired from the consulate with a gift of $120,- 

 000, an estate, a seat in the Senate and the 

 title of Count of the Empire. 



His famous book, The Exposition of the 

 Rights of Man and of the Citizen, is a clear 

 and precise statement of man's relations to man, 

 and undoubtedly influenced Jefferson and other 

 American political thinkers at the time the 

 United States Constitution was being con- 

 structed. 



SIFTON, the family name of two brothers 

 who distinguished themselves in Canadian af- 

 fairs. 



Arthur Lewis Sifton (1858- ), a Canadian 

 statesman and jurist, first chief justice and later 

 premier of the province of Alberta. Sifton was 

 born at Saint John's, Ont., and was educated 

 at Wesley College (Winnipeg) and at Victoria 

 University (at Cobourg). After leaving the 

 university he went to the Northwest, where he 

 was admitted to the bar in 1883. From 1899 

 to 1903 he was a Liberal member of the assem- 

 bly of the North West Territories, and for the 

 last two years of the period was also commis- 



sioner of public works in the Haultain adminis- 

 tration. He was then for two years chief jus- 

 tice of the supreme court of the North West 

 Territories, and from 1905 to 1910 was chief 

 justice of Alberta. In 1910 he became premier 

 of Alberta, in succession to Alexander C. Ruth- 

 erford. Sifton's administration was concerned 

 chiefly with railroad matters, particularly the 

 subsidies, in one form or another, which had 

 been and were to be granted. 



Sir Clifford Sifton (1861- ), a Canadian 

 statesman, who, as Minister of the Interior in 

 the Laurier Ministry, framed the policy of 

 advertisement and exploitation of the north- 

 west which resulted in a flood of immigration 

 unprecedented in Canadian history. Like his 

 elder brother, Arthur (which see), Sir Clifford 

 was born in Ontario, and attended Victoria 

 University, from which he was graduated in 

 1880. He removed to Manitoba, was called to 

 the bar in 1882, and for a number of years prac- 

 ticed at Brandon. From 1888 to 1896 he was a 

 Liberal member of the Manitoba assembly, and 

 from 1891 to 1896 was also attorney-general in 

 the Thomas Greenway administration. As at- 

 torney-general he carried through the act codi- 

 fying civil procedure in the province. He was 

 a conspicuous opponent of the Dominion gov- 

 ernment's policy in attempting to establish 

 separate schools in Manitoba. 



In 1896 he entered the field of Dominion 

 politics as Liberal member of the House of 

 Commons and Minister of the Interior and 

 Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Two years 

 later he introduced and carried a measure 

 granting responsible government to the North 

 West Territories. He also hit on the simple 

 plan of advertising the Territories in order to 

 draw immigrants. In 1905 he resigned from 

 the Ministry because he and Sir Wilfrid Laurier 

 could not agree on certain educational ques- 

 tions affecting the Territories. In 1909 he was 

 appointed chairman of the Canadian Conser- 

 vation Commission, an office which he has 

 made one of the most important outside the 

 Ministry in Canada. He was created a Knight 

 Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and 

 Saint George (K.C.M.G.) in 1915. W.F.Z. 



SIGISMUND, sij'ismund (about 1368-1437), 

 Holy Roman Emperor from 1411 to 1437. He 

 was the son of Charles IV, and was married to 

 Mary of Hungary, on the death of whose father 

 in 1387 he became king of Hungary. In a cam- 

 paign against the Turks in 1396 he was utterly 

 defeated, and five years later a popular insur- 

 rection drove him from the throne. He re- 



